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The holiday season has begun, and millions of dollars will be spent across the nation in the next few weeks. You can make sure your store stays busy during this time, by marketing your seasonal promotions, services, and merchandise through a mix of print and online advertising.

Small businesses have always been a gathering place for members of the community. Neighborhood residents look at your business like a community gathering place, whether it be in hair salons, pubs, hardware stores or coffee house, they trust you to welcome them and their neighbors. Building a relationship like this should be the goal of every business.

If you were to go out tomorrow and buy an automobile, you might be surprised with all the special features that are included. Most cars, vans, and trucks have a camera to help guide you as you back up. Once, air-conditioning was a special feature, but now it’s considered a standard option on most cars. Cars even come with a USB port as part of the console so you can charge your tablets and phones. People have always loved celebrating their cars.

Next week, we start the official holiday shopping season. Every year, Americans visit physical stores and take part in online deals as businesses offer different promotions to attract consumers. Here are six trends to look for this holiday season.

As the holiday season approaches, local businesses look to prepare themselves for the the influx of customers. This means that as a business owner you need to spend more time building a marketing strategy and creating advertising opportunities to share your message with proposed customers. These next six weeks are your business’s last stand in creating a profitable year, so focus on a plan that will create name recognition and increase sales.

A few weeks ago, The Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower that is usually docked in Plymouth, Massachusetts, set sail to Mystic, Connecticut. Normally it stays there through the winter months, so that craftsmen can give it a proper winter makeover. Here’s an older picture of the Mayflower II being escorted from Plymouth.

Last week, Twitter announced that it would be shuttering its six-second video platform, Vine. While the community for Vine was small, its audience was dedicated and had launched a few of its stars into the pop-culture spotlight. When it launched, it was innovative and spurred other apps to follow suit, but it collapsed because it wasn’t able to stay competitive. Even if your business didn’t have a presence on Vine, its closure can be a lesson for you as social media evolves.

In many of our communities, small businesses are the backbone of the local economy. They are the stores that know customers by their name and help their neighbors find solutions to any question they may have. Here are seven facts about small businesses that you may not know.

One of my favorite things about going back and looking at old photos of cities and towns in Massachusetts is that although fashion, styles, and trends may change, business districts remain the same. It’s not unusual to find out a photo that shows popular business from the past and discover that a current store still thrives there.